ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An airstrike in the Iraqi town of Hawija destroyed one of the Islamic State group's largest car bomb factories, causing heavy casualties and a massive explosion heard some 48km away in Kirkuk city, officials said.
“The strike hit a facility at the entrance to the town of Hawija in Kirkuk [proince] that was used to rig vehicles with explosives for bombings that are one of ISIS deadliest tactics," an Iraqi army official said.
He added: “The blast caused heavy ISIS casualties but also killed and wounded civilians.”
Mohammed Khalil al-Juburi, deputy head of the Kirkuk province security committee, confirmed the details of the attack by warplanes with the US-led coalition.
An Iraqi colonel told the AFP news agency the facility included tanks, Humvees and large quantities of explosives and was "the biggest factory in Iraq and Syria."
Mobile phone photos obtained by AFP that were said to show the site of the explosion picture damage on a massive scale. According to AFP, they show a huge field of debris -- cinderblocks, metal roofing, the twisted remains of vehicles.
Vehicle-borne suicide bombs, in some cases huge trucks packed with explosives, are a key ISIS attack tactic.
Coalition airstrikes on Wednesday killed the ISIS police chief of Hawija, a Kirkuk police official told Rudaw.
“The warplanes also bombarded two other sub-districts around Hawija and many other ISIS militants who were with the police chief were killed by the bombardment,” said Brigadier Sarhad Qadir, Kirkuk’s provincial police chief.
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